Raine Shiba
Raine Shiba is a student attending Siren Academy, the third member of Team STRM, and one of the protagonists of The Coming Storm. Appearance Raine is a teenager of average build, average weight, and a slightly shorter-than-average height. He has a tanned skin color inherited from his father. His hair seems black, but is in actuality a very dark shade of green, and reaches down to the nape of his neck in slightly shaggy locks. His body is of a somewhat defined sculpt, though is not terribly prominent compared to the other males attending Siren Academy. Volume 4 Onward: After the events surrounding Cold Void in Volume 3, Raine has tied his hair back into a low ponytail, and traded in his clean white tunic for a more practical ensemble that will keep in warm in the coldest of times. His new dark green jacket comes down to his waist and is secured by a button loop closure with a green string and two diamond clasps. Along the large hood are bunches of white fur, as well as at the tops of his thick suede arm braces where the excess fabric of his sleeves is tucked in. Over his forearms are couplings of scratched up metal plates acting as his upper body defense from projectiles and close range attacks. Around his waist, Raine wears three accessories, including a ribbed cincher that comes up to a point in the middle and two sashes, one dark gray the other bright green. Over these is a tilted brown belt where he keeps his additional ammunition stored. The pants are gray in color and kept secured to his legs by two brown string ties just beneath his knees. His footwear is relatively simple—a pair of dark gray ribbed leg warmers and brown hiking boots. Additional metal plates are tapered down to these as defense. Volumes 1-3: His attire has many pieces. Raine wears a long-sleeved, black v-neck shirt and a pair of black trousers as his base layer. Other these, he dones a white hooded, vest-like cover with two collar folds and a coattail that hangs down to his knees. It is lined with a number of light green accents, all typically one centimeter away from the edges of the coat. He holds this in place with the assistance of a brown archery chest guard that straps over his left shoulder and under his arms, and a tight green sash around his lower waist. This green sash is somewhat loose, but is secured by a thin black scarf which is clasped tight by a silver buckle at his left side. On his forearms are a pair of light green gloves the same color as his jacket accents, with only one sewn appendage to stick the thumb through; the rest of his fingers are free standing. Over these long gloves are two plated guards made of the same material as his chest guard, which strap three times around his arms. His footwear consists of a comfortable pair of brown hiking boots lined with white fur at the tops and tied at the ankles with two light green bands. Over all of this, Raine wears a green cape that extends down to his thighs; he prefers to wear the cape for some form of personal security, if not warmth. Personality Raine is a very bold individual who has managed to learn the importance of focusing and keeping a positive outlook on life. He is very aware of the things happening around him, and he usually doesn't fail to notice something out of the ordinary. In social circumstances, he tries his best to do things that will yield better results for everyone involved. Deep in his core, Raine is sincere; he likes to ensure the wellbeing of others and still seeks to become just as influential of an individual to others as his parents and those before them did. He will gladly defend those he has managed to bond with, because he is passionate about anything he has emotionally attached himself to. Because of this, when anything he loves is harmed he tends to get a bit aggressive, and might dive into a situation head-first without thinking it through. He finds himself focused intensely on goals or obstacles presented to him and won't stop until he's achieved a satisfying result, but by the time he stops to look around, things will have change; this trait is one of the primary reasons he didn't pay attention to or hear about his brother's status until after the news of his untimely death was delivered to the family. Despite the troubling events of his history, Raine is able to keep a light heart. He relies heavily on his moralistic views, and often stresses how important being a good person is to him. He will only respect an individual entirely if they are the type of person who is strong-willed and will go through every obstacle to defend what means most to them. Background Raine Garrett Shiba was born to two not-necessarily-loving parents Minerva and Ahren, as the third of four siblings. He grew up in a fairly large manor in Xervia, regal to some degree, and enjoyed the first half of his life in comfort and luxury with his brothers and sister—Toby, Jaimie, and August. He was happy, though his older brother August made it a life goal to constantly belittle and harrass him. Nevertheless, Raine held his chin high and took it with stride. August was the eldest sibling of the four, and for that matter the cockiest, which annoyed the other three quite a great deal. He was held in high esteems by his father and had a bright future ahead of him as the potential heir to the Shiba Huntsmen tradition. Despite this, Raine managed to flip that aspect upside-down when August took his teasing too far. There was a day when August attempted to destroy a couple of his cherished possessions, be it out of jealousy, anger, or simply for the fun of it. Raine did not take it lightly and retaliated by using toys he had at the time to fight back and in the end give him a black eye. Enraged, August ran and told their parents, who to Raine's surprise were impressed with his efforts. At that point, they left August in the dust and put their hopes in Raine, sending him to study at Sanctum Academy so he could be a great archer. There came a time several years later when the family woke up and found that August had run away, planning to attend Haven Academy to prove out of spite he was far superior to his siblings, specifically Raine. With him out of the house, Raine's family felt a strange sense of peace without a disruptive force looming over their heads. Things went swimmingly for a while. Not long after, the Shiba family received word that August had died during initiation, by means of Grimm attack. Partly grief-striken, Raine's parents piled all of their hopes on him, attempting to mold him into some ideal man that could achieve the impossible. Naturally he underwent serious stress which gave him little time to play with other kids in the neighborhood, let alone enjoy any time with Toby and Jaimie. He fell into a short depression, but was reminded that the pain wouldn't last forever, and as such he held that concept close to his heart. He was cheery the next few years, often smiling and showing charity to those around him no matter how bad it hurt him. Years later, Raine was sixteen, and he chose to submit an application to Siren Academy rather than Haven; it was accepted shortly before the summer break arrived. His parents and siblings wished him good luck on his venture to the physical trial, which he was more than excited for. He arrived at the trial and stood in the presence of two highly esteemed teachers from Siren, as well as the headmaster himself. He was more than delighted to showcase his talents. Everything looked perfect...until tripped and twisted his ankle. Points were being deducted, and he was panicking, knowing he needed to act fast to keep his score up. So in all surprise, he managed to complete the course on one foot, proving that he could go on despite what obstructed his path. He passed (just barely), and was headed to Siren Academy two months later, ankle healed, and his hopes high and mighty. Weapon ' ' Name: Merles Arc (Robins' Bow) Primary Type: Long-Range Modeled After: A heavily modified compound bow Capabilities: Merles Arc has quite a few abilities in store. The first, obviously, is its ability to transform from one phase to another. In sleep mode, it looks like four regular rods with a spherical mechanism in the middle. In reality, said four rods are hollowed out, and inside lie the many more components that make up crossbow and ringblade mode, such as the grips, the arrowhead's resting perch, and the blades. In regards to ammunition, Raine uses sharpened steel arrows which are hollowed out, allowing them to be filled with the dust of his choosing. He's able to balance up to three arrows at a time on the retractable string, and usually keeps them stored in the quiver on his back...when there isn't any food in it. Merles Arc v.2 Merles Arc v.2 was made after the original weapon was broken beyond repair during Volume 2 of The Coming Storm. The new version isn't as compactable, but uses a string-and-pulley system to enable grappling abilities. Just as well, the inside edges of the end segments are sharpened steel to equal blades. The inactive state is contracted into a ring shape which can be worn over the shoulder, or hooked onto a belt or sash. The first active state is a separation of the bow into two segments, each with a retractable grip for easier handling. One may be held in the user's grasp while the other can be thrown or shot forth like a grappling hook. Likewise, it can also be used to attack enemies from afar by swinging it around in a similar fashion to a flail. The second active state of Merles Arc v.2 is the full compound bow form with a slightly more advanced string system than the average bow. Semblance Raine's semblance is named Eagle Eye. With his ability to cast glyphs, he creates a target glyph on a person or object in his cone of vision and has it lock on to their form, able to move around with them. His ammunition will seek out the target glyph and move in a manner similar to heat-seeking missiles until it reaches the target, allowing for more accurate hits on individuals that are generally harder to pin down. *The glyph Raine casts can stay locked onto the target for a maximum of 50 meters away. If the target gets out of range any further, his semblance will be cancelled. *If anything such as another person, gunfire, or anything acting as a shield intercepts the projectiles—or if for some reason the projectiles hit the ground before reaching the target—the glyph on the intended target will disappear, and his semblance will be cancelled. *If the target for whatever reason has the ability to teleport, mask their presence, or quickly get out of range, the glyph will lose track of the target and cancel the use of his semblance. *The projectile doesn't have to be his weapon's ammunition; he could very well use his semblance to throw any number of handheld objects such as knives, grenades, or school supplies such as books and pencils, though the speed at which they hit their target may vary depending on how hard Raine throws them. The glyph in this case would need to be within throwing distance, or the projectile will hit the ground and cancel out. *Raine's cooldown time depends on how far the projectile(s) travelled to reach the target. If they hit the target at a much farther distance, he will find himself too tired to generate another glyph for an extended period of time. For every meter his ammo travels, he has to wait five seconds, i.e. If they hit a target over 50 meters away, it would take Raine 250 seconds to recharge before he can create another glyph. *As a side effect, Raine's hair emits a subtle green glow. Relationships Saige Cristallo: Raine's teammate and leader. Raine identifies Saige as a valuable member of Team STRM, and someone he knows he can count on when things get rough. In their first meeting during the second stage of initiation, Raine found her to be quite cold and intimidating, until it was later revealed she was willing to give up everything for the wellbeing of her friends and family. Since then he's found her to be quite lawful and sacrificial, and holds her in high esteem, though they can't exactly hold a conversation for long. Tara Rhys: As Raine's teammate, Tara was at first thought to be constantly angry and judgmental in his eyes. She seemed to be, as he puts it, "The fire to Saige's ice," though it was later shown she just held bottled-up anger and used combat to exert those feelings. Raine understands the pain she faces, coming from a difficult family background, and keeps her as a good friend...and tutor, on occasion. Macy Anumati: The first person to truly give Raine a panic attack. When they met for the first time, Macy was overly exuberant, and wound up almost pushing him to the brink of destruction quite a few times, only to find he was more so a distraction while she took out the Grimm they faced. Raine is overall unsure about what to think of her, seeing how her attitude is almost constantly bubbly and cheery. He doesn't terribly mind, though—after all, he does, too, but not to such a high degree. Canaan Vogel: Honestly, Raine doesn't know him well enough. He appreciates having another cheery individual in his presence and looks at him as the version of him that's strong enough to lead a team single-handedly. Though that judgment tends to waver when he sees Canaan stumbling like a clutz around Macy. Ringo Alexander: Oh, boy. These two have issues. Raine is a little intimidated by Ringo, if not just annoyed by him. The two sparked something of a rivalry within their first few days at Siren, though have to keep their heads cool around the others to prevent another "incident." Shark Zabka: An admirable person. Raine likes Shark for his levelheadedness and high intelligence, with the ability to keep his stress suppressed when things get a little out of hand. Evelyn Scarborough: A girl with a passion for a little too much makeup. Raine likes Evelyn as a friend, though is concerned about her interests in things unrelated to school cirriculum, considering it might get them killed one day. He doesn't see her as a ditz, though wishes she would be more careful in general. August Shiba: Raine's older brother, and the biggest jerk he's ever known. Over the years, Raine came to loathe August, simply for being called the "golden child" when their parents were unaware of his abusive behavior towards him and his siblings. After August almost destroyed Raine's locket, Raine held a grudge until the day he died. At that point, Raine felt a slight pang of guilt for never having made up with August. Minerva and Ahren-Gray Shiba: Raine's parents aren't exactly...nurturing. They tend to push their children to become admirable individuals, and don't really believe that love and gentle encouragement are the way to go. Raine was never truly close with them, despite the few moments they shared. Gallery Raine Timeskip Concept Layout.png|Raine's Volume 4/Timeskip Concept Raine 2.png|Raine's Full Volume 1-3 Appearance Raine Alternate.png|Raine's Alternate Outfit Codename: Robin Bird Raine Winter Formal.png|Raine's Winter Formal Outfit Raine Pajamas.png|Raine's PJ Set Trivia * *Raine's first name is a variant of the name "Rain" which directly alludes to rainwater, typically depicted as cool colors ranging from blues to light greens. **His last name Shiba is Japanese in origin and has two meanings: "turf" in western Japan, and "brushwood" in eastern Japan. The two meanings of his last name allude to earthtone colors, which serve as the color palette for his attire, and allusion to his represented color green. *In terms of team themes, Raine's representation in Team STRM is the earthquake. **The team's secondary theme of Greek mythology is extended through Raine as the symbol of Apollo—known as the god of music, arts, healing, and enlightenment. One of Apollo's most recognized attributes, the lyre and the bow and arrow, is shown as Raine's primary weapon of choice. **Apollo is also considered to be the ideal of the kouros, otherwise known as a beardless, athletic youth, which is reflected in Raine's physical characteristics. *Raine is of mixed heritage, and exhibits both French and Japanese influences in his character. *Design inspirations come from a mix of pop culture icons, such as DC's Green Arrow, Disney's Robin Hood, and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed. Category:Characters